KEJRIWAL PROMISES ‘WORLD-CLASS DRAINAGE SYSTEM’ IN DELHI, BJP QUESTIONS

After Delhi witnessed waterlogging in several parts of the city following incessant rainfall on Monday morning, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday chaired a meeting along with the Lieutenant Governor to make preparations for the monsoon. The review meeting was also attended by PWD, MCD, DJB, I&FC. Following the meeting, the CM took to Twitter and wrote that the state government, under the chairmanship of Lt Governor, has planned to build a “world-class drainage system in Delhi”.

He further wrote that a system like Minto Road will also be built at other points of Delhi; drains and sewers will also be cleaned.

Kejriwal said, “I am pleased with the work done by our agencies, and we can see the proof of their work at Minto Bridge. There’s a folklore-benchmark in Delhi, it is said that the day Minto Bridge gets waterlogged, that day marks the onset of the monsoons. Minto Bridge this time is the talk of the town. Our officers and engineers gave their best towards ensuring the Minto Bridge does not get waterlogged. I am not saying so. The people of Delhi are.”

“I want to congratulate all the officers and engineers. Their work at the Minto Bridge has proven that we have the capacity to curb water-logging at all the vulnerable points in Delhi. If solutions for all vulnerable points are planned and worked towards like the Minto Bridge, then we can bring Delhi freedom from water-logging… Once such a system is in place, we would only require de-silting it once a year and the drainage system will be free of liability. So we should work on that prospect. We need to also popularise our grievance helpline numbers with the people of the city,” the CM added.

PWD Minister Satyendar Jain asked the agencies to be fully prepared for combating any problems that could be faced and said, “In the next three days we are going to have excess rainfall, so we need to be fully prepared to handle the situation. We not only have to be alert during the day but extra alert during the night; we have over 1,500 pump sets we should deploy them all.”

After Kejriwal’s tweet, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said that the very first rain of the season has laid bare the Kejriwal government’s claim of Delhi being a world-class city as one can see tiny islands at several places in the capital. Some of these places included Prahladpur, Moolchand, ITO, Ramlila Maidan, Pragati Maidan, Geeta Colony, Dwarka, Model Town, Najafgarh, Mundka to name a few, he said.